Citation Series 1: Naero's War: The Annexation War (27 page)

29

DaVinci-5 quickly deteriorated into a
nother Triaxian death trap.

Naero and the other strike fleet captains charged in against the Triaxian hordes repeatedly, inflicting heavy losses in wide arcs of destroying fire
.

But Triax merely absorbed those losses and kept advancing
.

Relentlessly advancing
.

The Alliance held for three hours of the heaviest fighting Naero had ever seen or endured, focused around the
DaVinci-5 naval shipyards.

Finally, under withering, blistering sheets of direct enemy fire, the shipyard was evacuated, abandoned to the enemy, and quickly destroyed
after the Alliance forces fled.

Once more, the battered Alliance f
leets held the sphere of fire against all-comers, vanquishing fleet after enemy fleet. They called in all of their nearby reserves.

They used
all of their talent and skill–every trick they knew.

They held off Triax’s overwhelming superior numbers for an entire day
.

That supreme effort g
ave the terrified civilian population of DaVinci-5 time to be evacuated in huge miner ore carriers that rushed in.

Several hundred million
.

The brave miners and valiant pilots did the
best they could and then some.

Finally, the exhausted Alliance defenses began to crumble under the intense strain
.

They were forced to retreat again
, or be completely swept away and vanquished.

Aunt Sleak–Admiral Sleak
Maeris took charge of the rout and led a masterful fighting retreat once more. Calm. Efficient. Even punishing.

But in despair, the Alliance abandoned
the last few millions on DaVinci-5 that had not been able to escape, to their fate.

N
o choice remained.

Triax made an example out of such a
‘traitor-world.’

The enemy
pounded it with atomics and genocide devices, wiping out all remaining life on the planet surface.

And still the enemy charged forward, heedless of any losses
.

Triax chased and fought the Alliance out of yet another
, previously-pacified system.

The continu
ing retreat from DaVinci-5 remained staggering and bleak.

Naero and
Strike Fleet Six helped the Alliance regroup around the next fall back line of defense prepared near Kholan-2.

Hundreds of ships passed quickly through the waiting fixer nebula
e to refit and re-arm.

Then the
massive enemy surge jumped in and came at them once again.

For the first time during the
entire course of the war, Naero and her fleet found themselves cut off and nearly completely surrounded by a tightening sphere of enemy forces.

Superior numbers that had her and her people hemmed in tight
.

In a
choking noose–a kill zone.

Haisha.
Dammit! Where had all of these extra fleets come from?

By their
intel, Triax still could not have even possessed a third of these numbers in the entire twenty-sector area.

And now suddenly the Alliance was
being pushed back, swarmed on, and surrounded over and over again.

But now it was time again to hit the foe hard, slow them down, and make them pay the price
–and just maybe–a little something extra.

“All ships. Follow me in on this
attack vector. We’re making a full sweep of the enemy formations to soften them up as they come online.”

Priva Kothari, captain of
The
Bulldog
, voiced her reservations.

“Captain Maeris. The enemy fleets are
clearly too many. We’ll be the one’s shredded…not them.”

“Orders, Priva. The Alliance reserves will plough in right behind us
in full support. Let the amazon make an opening. Everyone else form up and squirt through, all batteries blazing.”

Hippolyta
blasted several enemy ships straight in front of them, accelerating to attack speed and spinning wildly on its axis.

The planetoid smashed
straight into several enemy vessels, shoving them out of the way. Sparks and flames erupted.

Her strike fleet roared in behind her, bristling with rapid-fire prim
ary and secondary batteries roaring.

They raked the enemy and the enemy raked back
.

Shields buckled and ships caught fire
.

The enemy made way for them
, but kept up the heat all throughout the gauntlet.

By the time Naero’s strike fleet
finished its sweep, over half of its ships were in tatters.

Against such numbers, t
hey might as well have sprinkled the enemy with flowers.

They
limped and formed back up with the Alliance forces, taking up a flank defensive position on Admiral Sleak’s uttermost left, with fixers swarming all over them.

Triax and its
seemingly numberless fleets regrouped in slow, overconfidence.

They held the decisive advantage
, and both sides knew it.

Then, as if that were not discouraging enough
…

More Triaxian reserves continued to jump in
.

Strangely enough, the Alliance forces should have executed a
nother brilliant fighting retreat, and jumped out of such a hotly contested system.

And yet, this time–
this time they held their ground.

They made a stand i
n the face of overwhelming superior odds.

The Triaxian High Command hailed them
eagerly.

“Alliance invaders. Prepare to be destroyed. Your defeat begins now. No quarter. No prisoners
.”

So what else was new?

Naero and the Alliance admirals awaited confirmation from Spacer Intel.

Finally the word came
.

All
stood ready.

“Admiral Maeris. Permission to engage exposure mode.”

“Permission granted, Captain Maeris. Engage cloaked, exposure microfixers.”

Naero gave the command
.

Tyber and the fleet teks controlling the
hidden Intel devices triggered their protocols.

The spolymers on the outside
s of the enemy fleet hulls blurred. Their scarlet, black, and gold Triaxian fleet markings and designations swirled and shifted.

A conversion wave swept over the enemy ships like a
counter-virus, and reverted them to their former designations.

Still naval warships
–but with varied colorful markings and insignia from all of the other fourteen Gigacorporations.

Admiral Joshua confirmed
their success.

“Good work, Captain Maeris. The micro-fixers your ships salted the enemy fleets with are working perfectly. Not only have they revealed where the illegal ships originally came from,
but we now have all of their ship’s logs, maintenance, and jump histories. We know where they were constructed, and where they have served, before being sent illegally to flood the Annexation War.”

The Triaxian High Command mouthpiece laughed nervously
.

He even yawned
.

“More petty spack tricks? How un-amusing. No one cares what pitiful attempts you traitors and invaders perpetrate against us. No one cares, and no one will
bother listening to your lying, spack ravings.”

Naero did her best, ice-steel
, Aunt-Sleak grin.

“Let’s just put that to the test
, shall we?”

36

Admiral Sleak addressed the massed Gigacorps forces aiding Triax
.

“You and
all of your illegal activities have been clearly, and flagrantly exposed for all eyes to see. For the entire galaxy to bear witness to. The bulk of your forces present are not–in fact–Triaxian fleets. They are, in actuality, regular naval units from the other fourteen Gigacorporations, in clear violation of the the Fourth Spacer War Treaty.”

The Triaxian High Command did not even blink
.

“You have no
definitive proof. And even if you do, who is going to listen or care about what a bunch of stinking rebels and invaders–who are about to die–have to say?”

Grand Admiral Micah Allen from The Spacer Naval High Command took that
exact moment to cut in.

“We care, Triaxian filth. Your kind and your days are numbered, either way. But to the other fourteen Gigacorps, we
give this warning: For months you have slapped both us and the Alliance in the face with a treaty that you clearly break at will on a daily basis. You insist that only private Alliance forces can fight The Annexation War. While you pile in fleets from the other Gigacorps under false Triaxian or mercenary banners and designations to prop up these tyrants.

“We have all the proof we need that this is going on.
But it ends now. All fleets that were not part of Triax Gigacorporation, prior to the start of the war, are hereby ordered to depart immediately, and leave The Annexation War under a signal flag of truce.

“
And we know
exactly
now which ships they are,” Aunt Sleak added.

The spokesperson for Triax
fidgeted slightly.

“
Or what? And, for the sake of conjecture–not saying that any such ships do exist in our naval units, mind you–what are you prepared to do about it if they should not depart?”

Allen’s face remain impassive.
“Easy. Call your bluff. Triax already refuses to take prisoners under all the agreements of interstellar law. Any foreign ships caught in the Annexation War from this point on shall be shown no quarter. No mercy. No prisoners. We will actively seek to destroy them with extreme prejudice.”

“This is outrageous, barbaric
.”

“Apparently it is not outrageous or barbaric when Triax
does the same thing to the Alliance forces.”

“But regular Spacer Naval forces interfering would bring about
a Fifth Spacer War.”

“
Yes. It would. Then, by all means, let’s do so. Let it begin now and here, without further lies and pretense. First, we shall destroy Triax. Then we shall systematically destroy every Gigacorps which has and continues to give Triax aid. You shall have five minutes to decide. I strongly suggest that you all choose swiftly.”

The spokesperson stopped smiling and turned pale
.

“This is madness. There must be time to negotiate.”

“No negotiating. Five minutes. Starting now.”

“The other Corps will not stand for this. Their response will be swift and devast
ating, if you think they will stand by while one of their major allies and trade partners is destroyed! Who’s bluffing now? What is your pitiful might against the combined forces of all fifteen Gigacorps and their populations?”

Grand Admiral Micah Allen knitted his hands calmly together
.

“We are ready to fight this war
, you bloody-handed cowards. We will take you all on. Now. This instant. I have one hundred, advanced Spacer Navy fleets at my command. Poised to attack across all sectors. Five thousand unstoppable warships that are more advanced than anything the Corps have ever seen or can throw against us.”

The Grand Admiral smiled calmly. “
And that…is merely the vanguard of our forces. We have thousands of more fleets ready to flood in and overwhelm whoever chooses to stand against us. Take all the time you need to consider these facts. As long as it is not longer than four minutes.”

“Ridiculous! The Corps and their limitless fleets still outnumber the Alliance Navy by far. What do you expect them to do
?”

“Simple. Abandon Triax. Immediately. The other fourteen Gigacorps do not need to suffer Triax’s fate. Pull your fleets back and stay out of this fight
, as we have. It is not in your best interests to prop up a sick and diseased animal such as Triax–that either way is going to be put down. No one can prevent that now. This is your final warning. Leave now or share their fate. Three minutes…and counting.”

The spokesperson
gasped and checked his links feeds, while he continued to bluster and haggle. He seemed to be at a loss.

“Two
minutes.”

Triax and its lackeys began to stammer and panic
.

“One minute…
to the start of The Fifth Spacer War.”

Ships began to jump out of the Triaxian systems in droves
.

First in dozens, then in hundreds. Entire fleets fled back to their
own Gigacorps.

They did not have the stomach for another Spacer War
; not now at least.

Naero smiled eagerly, her strike fleet poised
and refitted on the front lines.

Triax reeled in despair and chaos, as its fickle allies betrayed and abandoned it to its fate
, melting away like a mirage.

The remaining Triaxian forces struggled to regroup into some form of order
.

“Hit them
. Now!” Admiral Sleak ordered.

Naero merely
waited for the word.

Strike Fleet Six led the next heavy assault
.

Intel clearly had all of the
illegal merc ships marked in the battle computers.

If they found any, Naero made a point
of destroying them first.

Shortly after that, even more ships fled the Triaxian lines and jumped out of harm
’s way.

Fewer and fewer had any desire to sell their lives for Triax, very quickly becoming a lost cause
.

Surina cut in suddenly. “I’m sorry, sir. Another enemy boarding attack
.”

“Who this time
?”

“One of our destroyers.
The
Warhorse
.”

“Ima’s ship?” Naero grinned knowingly
.

“Sir? Should we try to assist them
?”

“Have we received any distress calls from
The
Warhorse
, Rina?”

“No, but last reports said the enemy hit the bridge directly
.”

“Send
Duelist
and
Tarantula
to assist, but I’m guessing the action’s already over by now. Go ahead and hail Captain Kalada. Let’s make sure.”

“Hailing.”
Surina sounded surprised by the rapid response.

“Captain Kalada responding, sir. On main screen
.”

Ima stood before her command chair calmly, wiping the bright red blood from her blades onto her sleeves
in order to clean them off.

“Greetings,
N,” Ima said calmly. “Everything all right, my sister?”

Naero laughed. “Fine. We heard you might be having a little problem with enemy boarders
?”

Ima smiled slightly, her dark eyes still flashing fire. “
Not really. My crew and I have been waiting eagerly for one of these boarding attempts against
The
Warhorse
. It wasn’t any problem…not for us at least.”

She voiced her war cry in an expression of sheer victory, and her crew responded in kind
.

Off to one side, Naero glimpsed Ima’s people and their Apache Marines, piling up the enemy dead from the boarding assault in large numbers
.

The
Warhorse
bridge seemed to have been painted in blood.

Yet few of Ima’s people appeared hurt
at all.

“See you at our next practice session,
N?”

Naero nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it, Ima. Take care, my sister
.”

“Always.
Warhorse
out.”

Naero chuckled
.

“Something amusing, sir?” Surina asked
.

“Very.
I wish I could have seen the looks on their faces.”

“Who, sir?”

Naero laughed out loud. “Those morons on those enemy boarding parties. That’s who—the dumb bastards.”

“Sir
?”

“Rina, if I was the enemy, the last ship I’d
ever
want to try and board would be one stuffed with knife-happy, Spacer Apaches. I bet Ima and her people went after the enemy straight on with their blades from the get go. They probably didn’t even fire a shot. Shields don’t stop blades.”

Surina turn
ed back around to her station. “I’ll take your word for it, sir.”

“Come to one of our training matches and you’ll understand, Rina
.”

Naero continued to chuckle
.